


Turncoat Princesses

by cleanlittlesecret



Category: Princess Principal (Anime)
Genre: Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-11 05:25:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13517487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cleanlittlesecret/pseuds/cleanlittlesecret
Summary: Originally written for the prompt, "It would be nice to see a fic where Ange calls Charlotte by Ange instead of princess."





	Turncoat Princesses

Ange entered the clubroom to the sound of laughter—a rolling guffaw mixing with a bubbling giggle—and stopped dead, allowing the heavy door to swing shut behind her. The boom of its closing drew two sets of eyes to her in unison before Dorothy and Charlotte slammed their shoulders together like a gate to hide the club’s table behind their backs, and with her face set in a neutral expression, Ange continued to the end of the counter. Each deliberate step echoed in the silence until she stopped to say, “What are you two doing?”

Charlotte smiled. “Oh, hello, Ange! It’s a pleasure to see you, as always! Do you need something?”

“Princess, what is behind your back?”

“A, ah…” Charlotte leaned forward to wink at her. “…a  _surprise.”_

Ange’s expression didn’t change. “A surprise for whom?”

“That’s part of the surprise.” Charlotte easily met Ange’s gaze with that clean smile, so Ange turned her scrutiny on the princess’s apparent partner in crime.

“What is it, Dorothy?”

“It’s…” Dorothy squirmed for a few seconds, obviously searching for a lie that could slide under Ange’s perception, before she let out a heavy sigh and stepped to the side. “Just come see for yourself.”

Ange couldn’t stop her eyebrows from lowering as she moved closer. On the table was a stand bearing a wig of grayish hair, and it didn’t take long to recognize its style—short with a long sweep of bangs on one side and a ribbon—tied braid on the other. Ange’s gaze landed on Dorothy. “Again, what is this?”

“A wig of your hair, obviously.” With a smile tugging at her mouth and sweat glinting on her forehead, Dorothy struggled to maintain even a facade of composure as she looked towards Charlotte. “Princess and I thought she might need it for Operation: Changeling—in case a time ever came where she had to pretend to be you.”

“You’re joking.”

“No, I’m not! This could be crucial to the princess’s future safety—” Dorothy’s words disintegrated into a wheeze as she covered her mouth, but Charlotte held her posture as she gathered her hair onto the top of her head, pinned it there, and put on the wig.

“Let’s see how well it works.” With the wig framing it, Charlotte’s natural face was almost enough to disguise her on its own, but when she narrowed her eyes and wiped the smile from her mouth until her expression was as blank as Ange’s, the effect became unsettling. “How do I look?”

“Oh, god.” Dorothy shuddered. “Now I have to deal with  _two_  lizards girls.”

Ange gave Dorothy a sharp look and opened her mouth to retort, but Charlotte cut her off with, “Wait! Let me really get into character. I need to do this properly.” She cleared her throat and focused her expression. “On the Black Lizard Planet—”

Dorothy’s laughter bowled over the words as she whirled to smack the table with her palm. “Is that really what Ange sounds like to you?!”

Ange’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t talk like that.” The impression had been too flat and low, and the cadence was off.

Charlotte’s mouth slipped into a frown. “Okay, let me try again,” she said in her normal voice before taking a steadying breath. “My name is Ange, and I’m an extraterrestrial from the Black Lizard Planet.” Another reversion. “How was that?”

Dorothy’s laughter made the answer clear as she wiped tears from her eyes, and Ange scowled.

“Princess—”

“No, no, wait!” Dorothy passed her sleeve over her face as she regained her breath. “She’s not  _Princess_  right now, so you shouldn’t address her that way.”

Charlotte turned to Ange with glinting eyes as a Cheshire grin shattered her mask. “That’s right! I’m  _Ange_  now.”

Ange hid her tensing fists in the folds of her skirt. “I’m not playing along with this.”

Charlotte pouted as Dorothy said, “Oh, come on, Ange. A method actor like you should understand how important it is to get into character. What if a day comes when she really does need to be you?”

Ange’s gaze crawled to the near reflection standing before her. Dorothy didn’t understand what was really happening here, but from the way Charlotte met that look now, all faux stoicism dropped in her eagerness to get her way, Ange knew where this was going. They’d had this conversation before.

_Why do you call me “Princess”?_

As the seconds dragged by, Dorothy crossed her arms. “Really, Ange—”

“Fine,” she huffed. “Ange, this is ridiculous.”

“Oi!” Dorothy’s eyebrows furrowed, but Charlotte’s expression burst into a dazzling smile as she realized what Ange had said.

“Are you satisfied now?” Ange accompanied her  _Princess_  voice with a diplomatic smile.

Shaking her head, Dorothy let out a short laugh. “Oh, geez. Guess we can’t beat her at that game, Princess.”

“No, we can’t, Miss Dorothy,” Ange said, still using that voice.

Charlotte forced her expression to clear. “Everyone on the Black Lizard Planet knew how to do impressions like this.” Still off, but her tone had gotten at least a little closer to Ange’s. “Of course, I was always the best at it.”

Dorothy stared at Charlotte for a few seconds before she caught the joke and squealed, “You’re siding with Ange now, you traitor!”

“Why are you surprised, Miss Dorothy?” Ange said. “Compared to betraying my own kingdom, this is nothing.”

Dorothy groaned and rubbed her eyes. “Ugh, great. I need a bloody drink.”

Charlotte caught Ange’s attention, tilted her head towards Dorothy, and moved to stand beside her false doppelganger. “Spies shouldn’t drink so much on the job, Dorothy.”

Grasping the plan in a flash, Ange returned to her normal voice and said, “Especially when they’re grown women pretending to be teenagers in a prestigious academy.”

“You—!” Dorothy dropped her hands to glare but froze at the sight of them standing together and looking almost identical in their school uniforms. “Wait, which one—”

“What if you get drunk and blow your cover?” Charlotte’s eyes slid towards Ange. “That would endanger the whole operation, right, Ange?”

“Yes, Ange. We can’t risk Princess’s safety for a little whiskey, so Dorothy will have to go without.”

Fractured noises escaped her mouth as Dorothy looked from one girl to the other. She must have been too flustered to think about looking for the real Ange’s stockings, for she soon let out a huff and turned on her heel. “One Ange is more than enough as it is! I’m leaving!”

“Good-bye,” both girls called in unison as she stomped out of the clubroom, and the door’s slam was met with new laughter—intertwined strings of bouncing giggles.


End file.
